Neurocardiac dysregulation and neurogenic arrhythmias in a transgenic mouse model of Huntington's disease

• Published in: The Journal of physiology 2012-11, Vol.590 (22), p.5845-5860
• Main Authors: Kiriazis, Helen, Jennings, Nicole L., Davern, Pamela, Lambert, Gavin, Su, Yidan, Pang, Terence, Du, Xin, La Greca, Luisa, Head, Geoffrey A., Hannan, Anthony J., Du, Xiao‐Jun
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animals; Atrial Fibrillation - etiology; Atrial Fibrillation - genetics; Atrial Fibrillation - physiopathology; Atropine - pharmacology; Autonomic Nervous System - physiopathology; Bradycardia - etiology; Bradycardia - genetics; Bradycardia - physiopathology; Cardiac arrhythmia; Cardiovascular disease; Death, Sudden - etiology; Disease Models, Animal; Heart; Heart - innervation; Heart Rate - drug effects; Heart Rate - physiology; Huntington Disease - complications; Huntington Disease - genetics; Huntingtons disease; Mice; Mice, Transgenic; Myocardium - pathology; Myocytes, Cardiac - pathology; Myocytes, Cardiac - physiology; Nervous system; Neurons - physiology; Neuroscience: Neurobiology of Disease; Norepinephrine - blood; Rodents; Tachycardia - etiology; Tachycardia - genetics; Tachycardia - physiopathology
• ISSN: 0022-3751; 1469-7793
• DOI: 10.1113/jphysiol.2012.238113

Key points •  Heart disease has been attributed as a major cause of death in patients with Huntington's disease (HD). While little is known about cardiac complication(s) in HD, dysfunction of the autonomic nervous system (ANS) may play a role. •  Using a mouse model of HD, we demonstrated that even from an early HD phase, there was enhanced sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous activities, leading to an unstable heart beat, various arrhythmias and, ultimately, sudden arrhythmic death. •  Greater numbers of active neurons were found in brain regions important for autonomic regulation in HD mice, suggesting a centrally mediated mechanism that was underlying the ANS‐cardiac dysfunction. •  Our findings provide insight into a likely neurocardiac cause of death in HD, and warrant further clinical investigation.   Huntington's disease (HD) is a heritable neurodegenerative disorder, with heart disease implicated as one major cause of death. While the responsible mechanism remains unknown, autonomic nervous system (ANS) dysfunction may play a role. We studied the cardiac phenotype in R6/1 transgenic mice at early (3 months old) and advanced (7 months old) stages of HD. While exhibiting a modest reduction in cardiomyocyte diameter, R6/1 mice had preserved baseline cardiac function. Conscious ECG telemetry revealed the absence of 24‐h variation of heart rate (HR), and higher HR levels than wild‐type littermates in young but not older R6/1 mice. Older R6/1 mice had increased plasma level of noradrenaline (NA), which was associated with reduced cardiac NA content. R6/1 mice also had unstable R–R intervals that were reversed following atropine treatment, suggesting parasympathetic nervous activation, and developed brady‐ and tachyarrhythmias, including paroxysmal atrial fibrillation and sudden death. c‐Fos immunohistochemistry revealed greater numbers of active neurons in ANS‐regulatory regions of R6/1 brains. Collectively, R6/1 mice exhibit profound ANS‐cardiac dysfunction involving both sympathetic and parasympathetic limbs, that may be related to altered central autonomic pathways and lead to cardiac arrhythmias and sudden death.